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The Gods Get Their Bridge at ‘Rheingold’

By Anthony Tommasini October 1, 2010 1:03 amOctober 1, 2010 1:03 am

The rainbow bridge appeared!

Yes, on Thursday night, for the second performance of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s “Rheingold,” the gods were not stranded on the stage during the work’s glorious conclusion, waiting for an ascending rainbow bridge that was supposed to lead into Valhalla, the castle built-to-order for Wotan and his dysfunctional family of gods — a bridge that never materialized.

As Wagner-lovers, “Ring” nuts and everyone who has been following this story knows by now, the director Robert Lepage’s production relies on a huge central set: a 45-ton piece of equipment that the cast and crew have taken to calling “the machine.” It consists of 24 planks on a crossbeam that rise and fall, like a row of seesaws, to create multi-tiered platforms and stairs where much of the action takes place, or to form backdrop walls upon which the production’s elaborate video imagery is projected.

Alas, on Monday night, the portion of planks that was supposed to elevate to form the path to Valhalla malfunctioned. After a while, the singers had to slink off awkwardly into the wings, while James Levine conducted the triumphant orchestral music with sumptuous sound and Wagnerian sweep.

On Thursday, it was good to see Mr. Lepage’s climactic stage effect the way he conceived it–an impressive, if somewhat cumbersome, theatrical feat.

At first, a narrow group of planks in the center of the machine were bathed in a spectrum of streaming lights. Then the planks on either side turned upward and took on the look of marbled grey castle walls. As the planks forming the rainbow bridge lifted into place, the singers portraying the gods watched in awe (and, no doubt, with enormous relief). The planks rose so high that the rainbow path was almost upright. After the singers descended into a dark space below the stage, a roster of acrobatic body-doubles appeared on the pathway, hooked up to cables for security. Taking the place of Bryn Terfel’s Wotan, Stephanie Blythe’s Fricka and the other gods, the doubles walked gingerly up the shimmering, colorful bridge.

This stage trick was something to see, and certainly an improvement on Monday’s mishap. Still, bringing on the acrobatic body-doubles during this transcendent final scene broke the dramatic mystique that the singers had worked hard to foster.

Met-goers will debate this production passionately, no doubt, as Mr. Lepage’s complete “Ring” is rolled out. (“Die Walküre” arrives in April.) There can not be much debate, however, about the musical performance, which was again splendid.

It would seem that, for this run the Met is scrapping the tradition of starting “Das Rheingold” in the near-dark to set the mood as the orchestra begins. As on opening night, the house was lighted on Thursday when Mr. Levine, who has been recuperating from back surgery, appeared to a thunderous ovation. He is still wobbly on his feet. The Met may not want to risk having him walk to the podium in the dark. In any event, for all his physical frailty, Mr. Levine conducted a vibrant performance and was cheered by opera-lovers in the house who clearly have missed him.